d, simplification being aimed at throughout. Six long years
passed in this pursuit of the possible. At length the clear light
dawned. In 1868 Mr. Walter ventured to order the construction of three
machines on the pattern of the first complete one which had been made.
By the end of 1869 these were finished and placed in a room by
themselves; and a fourth was afterwards added. There the printing of
The Times is now done, in less than half the time it previously
occupied, and with one-fifth the number of hands.

The most remarkable feature in the Walter Press is its wonderful
simplicity of construction. Simplicity of arrangement is always the
beau ideal of the mechanical engineer. This printing press is not only
simple, but accurate, compact, rapid, and economical.

While each of the ten-feeder Hoe Machines occupies a large and lofty
room, and requires eighteen men to feed and work it, the new Walter
Machine occupies a space of only about 14 feet by 5, or less than any
newspaper machine yet introduced; and it requires only three lads to
take away, with half the attention of an overseer, who easily
superintends two of the machines while at work. The Hoe Machine turns
out 7000 impressions printed on both sides in the hour, whereas the
Walter Machine turns out 12,000 impressions completed in the same time.

The new Walter Press does not in the least resemble any existing
printing machine, unless it be the calendering machine which furnished
its type. At the printing end it looks like a collection of small
cylinders or rollers. The first thing to be observed is the continuous
roll of paper four miles long, tightly mounted on a reel, which, when
the machine is going, flies round with immense rapidity. The web of
paper taken up by the first roller is led into a series of small hollow
cylinders filled with water and steam, perforated with thousands of
minute holes. By this means the paper is properly damped before the
process of printing is begun. The roll of paper, drawn by nipping
rollers, next flies through to the cylinder on which the stereotype
plates are fixed, so as to form the four pages of the ordinary sheet of
The Times; there it is lightly pressed against the type and printed;
then it passes downwards round another cylinder covered with cloth, and
reversed; next to the second type-covered roller, where it takes the
impression exactly on the other side of the remaining four pages. It
next reaches one of